It wasn't immediate, but as his brain started working its way from sleep to wakefulness, he began to realize something amazing.

He felt no pain.

Not like the pain he had been feeling for an unfathomable amount of time, anyway. There was still some discomfort. Tubes and catheters and adhesives that made individual parts of his body sore, but the all-encompassing pain was gone.

His mind searched for Rey, and at the same time it found her in the Force he realized he could feel her physically, too. She was still lying next to him, curled up sleeping soundly. He relaxed, unwilling to wake her when he knew she had not had a decent sleep since he had gotten bit. Unfortunately, he heard Dr. Kofra come in the room just then.

"Master Skywalker?" he said softly but firmly.

No, he thought. Don't wake her up. He wasn't sure if his pain was gone because the venom had run its course or if Rey sleeping plastered against his side had anything to do with it, but either way, he didn't want her disturbed.

"Master Skywalker?" Kofra said again.

He felt Rey jerk slightly as she woke, and his disappointment grew as she immediately slid off the bed. "Sorry," he heard her say to the doctor. "I probably shouldn't be sleeping there, huh?"

"On the contrary," Kofra told her. "Your husband's vitals are completely normal for the first time since he came and you got a full eight hours of sleep. I think sleeping there was a wonderful idea."

He heard Rey laugh softly. "What do you need?"

"Your daughter was in earlier to talk to you, but when she saw you sleeping, she said it could wait. However, it's getting late and I know she will be retiring soon, so I thought you might want to speak with her."

"Which one?" Rey said on a yawn.

"Excuse me?"

"Which daughter?" she said wryly.

"Oh! Sydney. She said she would be at The Stinger." The Stinger was the local pub/café not far from the clinic.

"Thank you," Rey answered. "I'll go see what she wants." He could feel her moving away, and while he felt frustrated by her leaving, he also felt for the first time that he would be okay alone.

"Master?" Kofra said suddenly.

"Please, call me Rey."

"Rey? Did you put General Dameron's arm around you before you lay down?"

"No, I didn't. Why?"

"Well, he had it wrapped around you when I came in."

There was a long moment of silence.

"I'll be right back, Poe," Rey said softly. He could hear the smile in her voice.

XXX

Rey entered the doors to the pub and stood there for a moment taking in the scene before her. Almost two dozen people gathered around a group of tables in the middle of the room, and she was related, either by blood or by marriage, to all of them. The joy she had felt at Kofra's words about Poe's arm increased as she watched her family. All eight children, various spouses, and seven grandchildren (with two more on the way) ate and laughed and argued in front of her. Several droids of various designs skittered around the room, some owned by The Stinger and serving the Dameron clan, but most belonging to members of her family, which meant they themselves were family; every one of Rey and Poe's children had carried on the belief that droids were part of the tribe. C-3PO was carrying on a lively debate with Sienna, R2-D2 was attempting to boss the server droids, D-O was hiding under the table, trying not to get underfoot, and BB-8 made a bee-line for her as soon as he saw her; he visited Poe often, but never stayed, taking the job of looking after the youngest Dameron grandchildren seriously.

Rey smiled at him, then moved into the room, knowing the droid's reaction would draw everyone else's attention to her. "If I had known all it would take was one of us on death's door to get you all in one place…" she started.

"Hey!" Sabine argued. "We were all here for Shiloh's wedding last year!"

"Once a year is not enough," Rey stated.

"Did you have a good sleep?" Sydney asked, her voice soft despite the hubbub around her.

Rey nodded. "Very good." She walked up to her youngest daughter. "What did you need?"

She shrugged, her chestnut hair sliding around her shoulders as she did so. If Seb was a carbon copy of his father, Syd's looks were almost identical to her mother's. "Chewie checked in a few hours ago, just wanted an update. He asked if he should come, but I told him to wait until you contacted him. I think he was worried things weren't going well."

"Well, I will happily contact him to let him know things are going wonderful."

"Really?" Skyler asked, his gaze hopeful.

Rey nodded. "He's moving a bit on his own, and when I left him, I felt no pain." She smiled. "I have hope he will wake within a couple of days."

A cheer went up from the group and Rey laughed. She stayed for a while, sitting down to eat a quick meal. Finn and Rose came in a few minutes later, and they were absorbed into the group immediately. Though they lived on Kashyyyk, they were as much family as any of the many Damerons in the room.

Eventually, Rey slid out of the gathering, giving Finn a wink as she did so. She sent a quick message to Chewie, then headed back to the clinic. She had promised Poe she wouldn't be long. Promises were important between them, and trust was imperative. It always had been. Sitting next to his bed once more, Rey remembered back to a time when that trust had been tested in a most unusual way.

Most of the days on Ajan Kloss were sunny, hot, and humid. Rain came quickly, sometimes with barely any warning, poured heavily, then was over just as quickly, raising the humidity without really cooling down the temperature. Most of the beings that had voluntarily stayed with the Resistance after the war's end complained about the weather, but Rey loved it. Heat she could handle, and the humidity was much easier on her than the bone-dry air of Jakku had been. However, there were still days even she found herself wishing for a break from the sweltering temps.

While artificial cooling systems had been put in place in the Command Center and the new dormitory buildings, the rest of the base was pretty much as open air as it had been during the war, with some members still choosing to live in the caves that had provided shelter back when Leia had still been in charge and they had been ready to run and hide if need be. Now that the Republic was mostly re-established and Poe was doing double duty as leader of the Resistance and head flight instructor of the new Naval Academy on Naboo, Ajan Kloss was feeling more like a permanent home.

It was three weeks until her wedding, and Rey sat on a blanket watching her fiancé fall asleep across from her before he even finished eating the food she had packed for their picnic. He was exhausted, she knew. He had just arrived from Naboo yesterday for his last visit before the wedding and he had spent almost all that time since in meetings with his command crew. She knew he would spend the next two days of his visit with her, as had become the norm since he started the job on Naboo, but she worried he was running himself into the ground. She had argued with him more than once that he needed to delegate more to his staff, especially D'Acy, who was his second in command after Finn resigned his commission.

She stared at the water in the pond they were next to for a while, briefly wondering if she should go for a cooling soak while Poe napped, but decided against it; the only time she had bathed in the pond had been at night when she had been alone. She was still uncomfortable with large bodies of water, her experience on Kef Bir's ocean having given her reoccurring nightmares.

She grabbed a starfruit and as she did so realized Poe was awake and watching her.

"I feel asleep," he said softly.

She smiled. "Yes, you did."

"I'm sorry," he groaned, rubbing his face.

"Poe, it's alright," she told him. "You need it. And I'm glad you're comfortable enough here to do it."

He watched her for a while, a small smile on his full lips. "What were you thinking just now?" he asked softly.

She swallowed her bite of fruit, then shrugged. "I was thinking about getting in the water. It's extra hot today."

His eyes lit up. "Yes! That sounds amazing!" He sat up and began to pull off his boots.

"Poe!" Rey laughed. She looked back toward the base. "It's daytime!"

"I'm not gonna strip completely," he told her, pulling off his shirt. "Not sure that would be a good idea with you around anyway." He was determined to wait until their wedding night to have sex with her. As she looked at his bare chest with his mother's ring hanging from its chain around his neck, the same ring that would go on her finger in three week's time, she shivered. He took off his holster and then seemed to contemplate whether or not he should remove his pants. She was grateful when he decided to leave them on. He stood. "Come on!"

She laughed again as he ran toward the rocky outcropping a short distance away and jumped in, cannonballing into the water. It was obvious to her that he had done that before. She pulled off her own boots and wraps, leaving her saber next to his blaster, and walked to the edge of the water, away from the rocks. He was swimming with powerful stokes toward the center of the pond, but then he stopped and turned toward her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm not sure I should take off more than this, Poe," she answered, thinking he was asking about her choice of leaving her trousers and tunic on.

He shook his head. "No!" he emphasized. "Jump from the rocks," he demanded. "I want to see you fly!" He was grinning at her.

Her heart stuttered, and she wasn't sure if it was because of his words or his smile. Or both.

"Poe!" she exclaimed. "Did you forget where I grew up?"

She could see his brows furrow for a moment, then suddenly they rose. "You can't swim, can you?"

"I've… floundered in water before," she griped, remembering back to the sea cave on Ahch-To. "I haven't exactly had the opportunity to learn how to swim," she told him, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, now you do," he told her matter-of-factly. He swam back over to the rocks, jerking his head toward her. "Come on."

Biting her lip, Rey made her way over to the outcropping he had jumped from and looked down at him. It wasn't very high up; she had jumped from much farther using the Force. But the water underneath her caused more than a little anxiety.

Poe looked up at her, his smile reassuring. "Jump," he told her. "I'll catch you."

"Poe," she started.

"I'll catch you," he affirmed. "I'll always catch you."

Taking a deep breath, she jumped.

"Rey?"

Rey jerked open her eyes at the sound of the husky, barely audible whisper. She looked at her husband, her heart racing as she realized he was looking back at her.

She started crying and laughing at the same time. She stood and leaned over him, bringing her face close to his, running her fingers through his hair.

"Hi," she whispered, her own voice rough sounding to her ears.

"Hi," he answered back, smiling. She saw him swallow a bit uncomfortably, and he blinked a few times before licking his lips. "Thanks for catching me," he said, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt he had indeed been sharing all these memories with her, just as Shaina has suggested.

"I'll always catch you."

XXXXXX

A/N: I'm posting early again because life for me is simply a mess right now and it's easier to do at night for reasons. Thank you to all who are reading, even if you are silent. Please stay tuned for the epilogue!

And remember to hug your loved ones, both human and furbabies.